Party-list camp unfazed by Saguisag BBL rap

BUHAY Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza on Tuesday said he welcomes the challenge posed by former senator Rene Saguisag’s filing of a complaint in the House ethics committee against him and fellow congressman Jonathan dela Cruz.

“We have never been easily intimidated by court cases and complaints, especially when it comes to fighting for the truth, what is in accordance with the Constitution and what is good for the country,” Atienza said in a statement.

The complaint stemmed from the case of treason and inciting to sedition that Atienza and dela Cruz together with former ambassador Jose Romero Jr. and lawyer Jeremy Gatdula filed with the Manila Prosecutor’s Office against the government peace panel that crafted the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Saguisag is the lawyer of the government peace panel.

“It saddens me because Rene Saguisag is a good friend and he is also known as a patriotic Filipino. We fought together against the Marcos dictatorship. Even if we were imprisoned by the military, it did not deter us from fighting for democracy and the truth. What is unethical about protecting our sovereignty and territorial integrity? What is unethical about upholding our Constitution? I don’t understand what he meant about prosecutorial terrorism,” Atienza said.

He pointed out that the peace panel gave in to all the demands of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, including having their own police force, their own budget of P75 billion and their own constitutional bodies such as Commission on Elections and Commission on Audit, among other questionable and unconstitutional provisions in the BBL.

Atienza said there is nothing unethical about filing a complaint in court about the peace negotiations that he deemed to be unconstitutional and tantamount to a declaration of war against the government.

“This BBL puts us in jeopardy and they threw it on our laps to tackle. We think that as lawmakers we should ensure that it will be constitutional. More so, we cannot rely on some of our fellow lawmakers who have seemingly changed their stand after meeting with the President in Malacañang. We are confident that the House leadership led by Speaker [Feliciano] Belmonte [Jr.] will not give this complaint any importance,” he added.

The bbl is the fruit of 17 yrs of negotiations . After the mamasapano tragedy and the months long delay in passing the law, the BBL was discussed once more and streamlined clarified so as to conform to the ph constitution . It is the right thing to do to pass it now.

The Advocates who drafted the BBL to align the interests of the Philippines and a neglected Muslim region also took pains to assure that it will be in congruence with 1987 constitution. Pass it sir madam.

Well Mr. Atienza if what you said is true (We have never been easily intimidated by court cases and complaints, especially when it comes to fighting for the truth, what is in accordance with the Constitution and what is good for the country) then I hope you are ready to accept the fact that the BBL will happen and that you will find your place somewhere, having to pay for the petition you filed against it.

There is no issue more ‘earth-shaking’ to the country than the BBL. ARMM has, as it is, limited the access by non-Muslims to a big part of Mindanao, Sulu and Basilan. The BBL will not just limit this access but rather, totally exclude and alienate non-Muslim Filipinos from an area wider than that which the ARMM already has. The Philippines will have been ‘gutted’ as a consequence of this reckless, selfish and dangerous territorial concession to a block of Philippine residents who have always disavowed being Filipino in the first place.
The least that President Aquino, Mmes. Quintos-Deles and Coronel-Ferrer should do is to level with the Filipino people, and say what really drives them to force this blatant betrayal down our throats… and to explain why they are not concerned about the people’s wrath after they are no longer perched high up the roost.